Sustainable Plastics - September/October 2022 - 37

inside at... CJ Bio
Indonesia. CJ is one of the largest
buyers of the carbon feedsource
sugar, sucrose or dextrose
in the world. The Pasuruan
plant was built on an existing
amino acid production facility.
" As part of CJ family, we
benefit from the largest buying
power of sugar feedstock
around the world. That said, we
can use a variety of feedstocks;
we've demonstrated in the past
that we can use different feedstocks
whether it be dextrose
from corn or cellulosic feedstocks;
but right now, because
of the scale and because of the
strong position that we have in
Indonesia, we're using sucrose
from sugar cane. "
Starting small, with
big ambitions
Even so, in the world of polymers,
a 5000-tonne plant is
a 'drop in the ocean', noted
Senechal -- but in the world of
PHAs, it's not.
" It's small but we call it a
commercial pilot plant. It is sufficient
scale to allow us to us to
do some pretty serious market
seeding and testing, and we are
already working with customers
at relatively large scale, " he said.
Moreover, as this initial product
is intended as a modifier,
there is also the multiplier effect
that occurs because of the combination
with other polymers.
CJ Bio, however, has no intention
of stopping at 5000 tonnes
and already is starting to unfold
a number of very ambitious
plans. In addition to broadening
its offering to include a
semicrystalline grade of PHA,
the company is also mulling the
construction of a mega plant in
the next two to three years with
a capacity of 50,000+ tonnes.
" We are aiming to scale to
65,000 tonnes by 2025, and we
have plans for continued expansion
in the years following, "
he said.
At that scale, the economics
will also improve; although CJ
Bio's offering is currently competitive
with other PHA products
in the market, the economics
are still defined by the 5000
tonnes it produces. However, in
this respect, too, the times are
changing.
" I've been in this industry for
many years, and I think the way
people look at price has shifted
- for a customer, the cost of a
biopolymer is very different today
than it was even 5-6 years
ago. We are seeing that the true
costs of using polymers are becoming
more and more internalized
for a lot of brands and
a lot of users of polymers. The
cost of packaging, for example:
today, they are also looking at
potentially having to include
the circularity aspect, which
means the conversations are a
lot more mature than they were
five years ago in terms of the
pricing of biopolymers, " he said.
PHAs also offer a number of
very unique properties that can
bring tremendous value to the
application as well. They are
the only available polymer that
can readily biodegrade in a variety
of environments. Identifying
those applications - think
mulch film, marine type applications
- where biodegradability
in situ can bring significant value
in use is CJ Bio's first target.
Another advantage is the fact
that not only are PHAs home
compostable, combined with
other polymers they can improve
the compostability profile
of these other polymers. PLA
is a main focus in that respect.
Using amorphous PHA as a
modifier, CJ Bio believes that
not only will this improve the
performance and the mechanical
properties of PLA, but also
its the end-of-life profile. " That's
a big win for the industry, " said
Senechal. " The Holy Grail is to
make PLA home compostable
and some very encouraging results
are already emerging. "
Two materials that are
meant to work together
It is also the reason for CJ Bio's
current close collaboration with
PLA manufacturer NatureWorks,
although work on PLA
actually started back in the
Metabolix years - one of the
reasons CJ Bio chose to launch
an amorphous PHA as its first
commercial product.
" It's a great advantage for
us to be able to benefit from a
polymer that's already had success
in the market. So, combining
with NatureWorks has done
a great job at opening up the
doors of the biopolymers market, "
explained Max Senechal.
" We saw tremendous synergies.
I think the companies are
very similar in their approaches
to wanting to develop new
products and new applications
and that was the main driver
behind this alliance. PHA and
PLA are two materials that are
meant to work together. "
And as Heidi Lebel, marketing
director at CJ BIO, emphasized,
the partnership is more
than just a supply agreement
but really is about developing
innovation and driving those
targets and goals for end of life,
as well as applications, together,
in a joint process.
" We announced an MOU
couple of months ago in the
press, but our goal is to have it
turned into a joint development
formally by the end of this year, "
she said.
Looking ahead
Biobased polymers still have a
long way to go in order to become
impactful players on the
market. And while the market
has seen considerable growth,
they are still very much niche
materials.
Also, in the European Union,
legislation is making it even
more difficult for biopolymers,
including PHA, to gain momentum.
Despite the fact that PHAs
are actually produced by microbes,
the European Commission
has seen fit to qualify PHA
as a non-natural polymer.
The Commission distinguishes
between whether the polymerisation
process has taken
place in nature or is the result of
an industrial process involving
living organisms. And, based on
the REACH Regulation and the
related ECHA Guidance, 'polymers
produced via an industrial
fermentation process are not
considered natural polymers
since polymerisation has not
taken place in nature'.
The Commission notwithstanding,
CJ Bio is still very
interested in the European
market. Senechal: " A lot of the
leading brands are European; a
lot of the very large brands are
leading the thinking in terms
of improving the sustainability
of packaging and we think
that eventually this will drive
Max Senechal
change - also in Europe. We're
certainly not writing the European
market off. I think that, as
an industry, PHA producers in
particular, as well as producers
of other biopolymers, need to
come together. We need to do
a better job of proving the case
that we are essentially a natural
option to a lot of the products
that are being phased out right
now under the Single Use Plastics
directive. "
There's still a tremendous
amount of opportunity to use
biopolymers in Europe, even
though the SUPD is making it
more difficult, he added. " It's a
massive market and we think
we can bring some interesting
and very innovative solutions
to some of those segments -it's
just something we need to work
with and continue to prove our
case and educate the market. "
CJ may be a newcomer in the
field, but it has a lot of legacy
through the Metabolix heritage,
he concluded.
" I think that we're bringing a
very unique position to the market
by combining a world class
technology that Metabolix developed,
and CJ has improved
upon, with a world scale capability.
These are two very strong
assets that we're combining and
that we aim to leverage, to make
a big impact in the market. "
September/October 2022
37
Sustainable Plastics - September/October 2022

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